


In the long run

by SelenicSoul83



Series: 12 days of Christmas 2017 [12]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, First Meetings, M/M, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 20:52:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13131966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenicSoul83/pseuds/SelenicSoul83
Summary: Phil followed the boy out of the living room and into the hallway, where the latter turned around and smiled sheepishly. “Now, before this gets awkward, there’s no situation. Yes, there are a lot of drunk as fuck teenagers out there, but, um, I don’t really know any of them, so…”





	In the long run

Phil shouldn’t have come to this party. It had been a mistake from the beginning, and now his friends had abandoned him in favour of dancing with each other and he couldn’t stand being the third wheel.

There were too many people and everything was just a tad too loud, but his friends were also his ride home so he couldn’t very well up and leave now. He’d have to sit it out.

He’d survive.

For the time being, Phil found refuge in the back of the house, in what appeared to be an office and library. Most of the people stayed in the living room with the music and kitchen with the drinks, or trickled out into the backyard where the first ones had already jumped into the pool. He wondered not for the first time if this kid’s parents knew their son was throwing a party while they were away.

(Of course they didn’t. Phil wasn’t _that_ naïve.)

He checked the spines on the bookshelf, seeing if anything stood out to him. It all sounded too scientific, too theoretical. He found a couple of books on psychology, philosophy, and art history. For the variety they offered, these people didn’t seem much into light reading.

“Phil! There you are!”

Phil almost dropped a heavy book— _Personality Psychology_ —at the voice that came up behind him. He schooled his face into the most pleasant smile he could muster as he turned around. “Hi, Allison.”

The girl threw her arms around him, squeezing his shoulders tight. “I’ve been looking for you all evening,” she said as she let go. “Tyson said I’d find you here.”

Huh, so his friends had been paying some attention.

But clearly not enough to know they should’ve tried to keep Allison away from him. She was a sweet girl, don’t get him wrong, and beautiful beyond compare, but Phil figured her unrequited crush on him would be best dealt with by… well, not dealing with it.

“You should come out there,” Allison said. Her easy smile seemed supported by the beer in her hand. A strand of light brown hair had gotten out of the braid she wore hanging over her shoulder, and she pushed it back behind her ear.

Phil shook his head slightly. “I’d rather stay here. I, um, it’s a bit too crowded out there for me.”

Allison nodded like she understood. Phil knew she was too much of an extraverted social butterfly to get it. “You should come with me,” she said, then. “We could go outside.”

Something told Phil that Allison in her tipsy state next to an open swimming pool was a recipe for disaster.

But when she took his hand and started leading him out of the office/library, he was too nice—and socially awkward—to say no.

“Hey, mate, can I ask something?”

Both him and Allison turned to the stranger that had spoken to them.

“Uh, sure,” Phil said, looking from Allison to the boy. Allison didn’t seem too happy with the interruption.

“Yeah, um—” He scratched his neck. “There’s a situation up front? Some guy that’s wasted? I could use some help?”

Why did everything sound like a question? Nonetheless, Phil took the way out he got offered.

“Sure, I’ll come with.”

Allison tugged on his hand. “Can’t someone else do that? I really want to go have fun.”

“I’ll find you later, okay?” Phil told her. He pulled his hand away while also trying not to be too forceful with it. Still, Allison pouted.

“Alright,” she said, and her smile had magically returned already. “Don’t take too long, okay? This party really isn’t very much fun.”

Phil couldn’t agree more.

He followed the boy out of the living room and into the hallway, where the latter turned around and smiled sheepishly. “Now, before this gets awkward, there’s no situation. Yes, there are a lot of drunk as fuck teenagers out there, but, um, I don’t really know any of them, so…”

Phil blinked. “Wait, what?”

The other stared down at his feet for a moment before meeting Phil’s eyes again. “I saw you when that girl came up and hugged you and it _really_ looked like you wanted to be anywhere else in the world right then.”

“Was it that obvious?”

“Kind of.”

Phil rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, I really thought I was a better actor. Thanks, though, for this.” Whatever this was.

“You’re welcome,” the boy said with a grin. “Why don’t you just tell her you’re not interested?”

That was one question Phil hadn’t been expecting so suddenly. “It’s not that simple!” he said. “She’s nice. And I do like her.”

“Dude, not wanting to hurt her feelings now is only going to make it worse in the long run.”

Who was this person and why was he giving Phil relationship advise? Could it even be considered relationship advise?

As though he could read Phil’s mind, the boy said, “I’m Dan, by the way.”

“Phil.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“You too.”

Phil sat down on the stairs, sighing into his hands. “I know I should tell her,” he said. “I’ve been trying, but every time I get close to it I just… freeze, or something. It’s like she doesn’t want to hear it.”

Dan chuckled as he sat down next to him. “That’s probably because she doesn’t. It doesn’t take a genius to see she’s into you.”

“Ugh. Can we not talk about this? But I’m also going to stay here for a bit – not because I don’t want to see Allison, but it really is too crowded in there for me.”

“Fine,” Dan said. “I’ll stay with you.”

And just like that they got to talking. Conversation flowed easily between the two. Phil learned that Dan had only moved to town two weeks ago, which could explain why he hadn’t seen him at school yet. Dan was at this party because a boy from class had invited him and his parents had thought it’d be good to meet new people.

“Are your parents always this cool about underage drinking?” Phil asked, laughing.

Dan shook his head vehemently. “Not at all. I don’t think they quite realised what kind of party this would be. Either that, or they must be really desperate for me to make friends.”

They were into a lot of the same bands and TV-series, and revelled in their shared love for videogames.

It was like that that an hour passed and Phil slapped his forehead. “Allison is going to be so mad at me,” he said, already jumping up from the stairs.

Dan looked up at him and for a second the look on his face seemed almost disappointed. “You’re still going to give her the wrong idea,” he said.

“I can’t just be a bad friend, either,” Phil said. “I’m sorry, but I have to go find her.”

Dan sighed. “I’ll come with. If that’s okay.”

Phil didn’t want to show just how okay that was, but there was no fighting the smile tugging at his lips.

In the hour they spent tucked away in the hallway, the party seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. When Dan lead Phil to the kitchen to grab a drink, they found the beer stock had more than halved and, looking at the people slumped on the couches, someone had found their way into the host’s liquor cabinet.

“We should’ve left while we had the chance,” Dan muttered.

Allison wasn’t in the living room, though Phil found Tyson with a beer in his hand that clearly wasn’t his first.

“There goes my ride,” he said to no one in particular.

“I could drive you home,” Dan offered.

“That’d be great. Thanks.”

They looked for her out back. Some people were still in the pool despite the temperature ever dropping, shooting around a beach ball. Phil shivered at the look of them.

“They’re going to get hypothermia soon,” Dan said, standing at the edge of the pool.

Before Phil could reply, two arms clasped around him from behind. He didn’t have to turn around to know it was Allison.

“Philip Lester,” she said, far too close to his ear and somehow managing to sound chastising despite the slur in her speech. “You ditched me.”

She let go enough for Phil to take her arms off him and turn to face her. “What? No, I didn’t ditch you.” His eyes shot to Dan unconsciously, who raised his eyebrows. Phil sighed. Allison was drunk and this was not the time to have this conversation. “Maybe we’d better go inside.” _And get you sobered up. Somehow._

But Allison stood her ground. She stomped her foot down and crossed her arms, looking steadier than Phil would give her credit for. “I want to stay out here. With you.”

“Alli—”

Everything after that happened in slow motion. Allison stepped closer suddenly, reaching for Phil, leaning in, and he couldn’t react. Dan pulled him to the side, causing Allison to miss and stumble forward, and forward still, arms flailing as she fell into the pool. Phil turned around, feet frozen to the ground as he watched people swim over to her. They got her above water. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and she was breathing. And he had expected her to get angry, but she looked more hurt than anything. That made him feel like even more of an asshole.

And like any asshole would, he bolted.

“Phil!” Two people called after him, but he listened to neither Allison nor Dan.

Fifteen minutes later, Phil was sat in a dark corner outside at the front of the house. He watched people leave, stumbling down the porch and onto the pavement on their way home. He got a couple of texts from Tyson, asking him where he went, but Phil ignored them all. He only let him know he would walk home and they could leave without him. He couldn’t really deal with facing anyone right now, he was feeling so embarrassed. And guilty. Mostly guilty.

“Did you really think you could hide from me?”

Phil’s first instinct was to run away again, but what good would it do him? He threw Allison his most apologetic look possible.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, hearing the quiver in his own voice.

Allison was dressed in new, dry clothes and had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Water still dripped from her hair, but the dive seemed to have sobered her up pretty well. She nodded to the space next to him. “Can I sit?”

“Please.” Phil moved over to make more room.

Neither talked.

“You really didn’t want to be found, did you?” Allison eventually broke the silence.

Phil almost laughed. “I guess not. H-How _did_ you find me?”

Allison smiled, then. She looked out in front of her, lifting her chin to point. “That one can be pretty persistent.”

Phil followed her gaze to find Dan shifting from one foot to the other on the pavement. He was looking down at his phone until he wasn’t and his eyes locked with Phil’s. He smiled, and Phil felt his stomach lurch.

“ _That_ ,” Allison said, making Phil’s attention snap back to her. She smiled ruefully. “That’s how I’ve been trying to get you to look at me for months now.”

Phil opened his mouth to speak, but didn’t know what to say.

Allison laughed. She had such a nice laugh. Most people would love to be in Phil’s place, to be on the receiving end of that laugh. “It’s okay,” she said then. “Really. And, hey, at least you’ve got _some_ taste.” She winked at him, but Phil could only blink back.

Before he could think about what to do next, Allison leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek and stood up, walked off.

“He’s all yours,” she called over to Dan, who’d again been pretending he wasn’t watching them.

Phil finally scrambled up from the ground, making his way over to Dan.

“I’d like that ride home now,” he said.

Dan grinned and Phil would really appreciate it if his heart could stop doing somersaults.

“Everything okay with Allison?” Dan asked.

Phil looked back at the house just as she reached the front door. She turned around and gave him a thumbs up. He shook his head, laughing. “Yeah. I guess so.”

**Author's Note:**

> I did it! 12 fics in 12 days!  
> Happy holidays everyone! <3


End file.
